Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com in Indiana has a very good article about John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats.
Here is an excerpt.
We love underdogs. It’s in the human DNA, especially the American DNA. We love the U.S. hockey team knocking off the Soviets. We love Georgia State eliminating Baylor. We love Villanova over Georgetown in 1985. It’s why we watch, why the ratings were so high for Thursday night’s games, although the two here in Cleveland were abject blowouts.
This year, we want to watch solely to see if somebody, anybody, can knock off mighty, undefeated, untouched Kentucky.
Except me.
Maybe it’s because I’m not a born-and-bred Hoosier (or maybe it’s some deep-seated emotional issue that requires years of therapy), but I find nothing objectionable about Kentucky and what they are continuing to do this season. I have no problem with one and dones, or two and dones, as is more often the case with these Wildcats. I have no problem with John Calipari; I know he comes off as a bit hubristic for some, but coaching is selling, and Calipari is the best salesman in college basketball.
And what a sales pitch: “Come to Kentucky, give up some minutes and touches and stats, but compete for a national title and then have success in the NBA.” It’s worked for virtually everyone who has come through his program, from Derrick Rose to John Wall to Boogie Cousins, and on and on.
Who wouldn’t want a part of that?
Read KRAVITZ: If you hate Kentucky, don’t read this column (really, don’t)
